Vengeance (2001)
Vengeance (2001) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on December 9, 2001, at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California. It was the first event under the Vengeance chronology banner to take place in December replacing Armageddon. The main feature of the event was a three-match tournament to unify the WWF Championship and the World Championship (formerly the WCW World Heavyweight Championship) into what became known as the Undisputed WWF Championship. This was the final WWF PPV to air on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Storylines The Invasion, which began in June 2001, ended at Survivor Series, the previous event, when Team WWF won a "Winner Takes All" Survivor Series match. The Alliance was forced to close business as a result, and all their titles except for the World Championship were abandoned (the remaining championships were unified with their respective WWF equivalents and subsequently deactivated, and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship became a WWF title). On Raw the following night, WWF Owner Vince McMahon attempted to strip Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was a member of The Alliance, of his WWF Championship, and award it to Kurt Angle due to his actions in costing The Alliance the match. However, before he could do so Ric Flair, who had not been seen on any wrestling program since McMahon's purchase of WCW in March 2001, interrupted McMahon and announced that the leaders of The Alliance, Shane and Stephanie McMahon, had sold their stake in the WWF to him and that he was now equal partners with McMahon. Austin then attacked both Angle and McMahon, after which Flair presented him with his title belt. Soon after, Flair announced a match between Austin and The Rock, the holder of the World Championship, to unify both titles and create one undisputed champion. McMahon, however, convinced Flair to create a four-man tournament instead. Two matches were made, with Austin defending the WWF Championship against Angle and The Rock defending the World Championship against Chris Jericho. The winners of both matches would then face each other in a third match where the winner would be the first Undisputed WWF Champion. Both title matches were rooted in feuds that were carrying over from earlier in the year. Austin and Angle had become allies after Triple H, with whom Austin had been teaming with since after WrestleMania X-Seven, went down with an injury and left Austin without a partner. Around this time The Invasion was taking hold of the WWF and in July at the InVasion event, Austin and Angle were part of Team WWF in a ten-man tag team match against five members of The Alliance. During the match, Austin turned on Team WWF and hit Angle with a Stone Cold Stunner, allowing Team Alliance to win. On the July 23 episode of Raw Is War Austin, now the leader of The Alliance, stated that he did this because he felt that Vince McMahon was grooming Angle to take over his spot, and that he was "unappreciated" when McMahon insisted he return to the old Austin. Angle, who became a fan favorite as a result of Austin's treachery, immediately began challenging Austin for the WWF Championship. His first chance came at SummerSlam, which Angle won by disqualification allowing Austin to retain the title. At Unforgiven in September, Angle forced Austin to submit to his ankle lock and won the WWF Championship in front of his hometown fans in Pittsburgh. Austin demanded a rematch, claiming his hand was under the ropes when he tapped out, and received it on the October 8, 2001 edition of Raw. Austin regained the title when William Regal, the WWF Commissioner and special enforcer, attacked Angle and joined The Alliance. Three weeks later Angle successfully defended the WCW United States Championship against Regal. Angle later joined The Alliance during a WrestleMania X-Seven rematch between Vince McMahon and then-WCW owner Shane McMahon, he interfered seemingly to aid Vince but instead struck the members of team WWF with a steel chair. However, McMahon revealed that he had planted a "mole" in The Alliance and Angle revealed himself to be that person at Survivor Series, which led to the leading to the aforementioned events involving Flair and Austin. The feud between The Rock and Jericho had started while the two were uneasy allies due to their mutual hatred of Alliance co-owner Stephanie McMahon. The Rock kept reminding Jericho that he had never won "the big one" (a world heavyweight championship) and wrote Jericho off as a "comedy act". On the October 11 episode of SmackDown!, Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam of The Alliance to become the number one contender to Rock's WCW Championship (later renamed the World Championship). At No Mercy he defeated The Rock to win the title, becoming a world champion for the first time in his career. The following night on Raw, Jericho and The Rock set aside their differences and won the WWF Tag Team Championship when they defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley). On the October 29 episode of Raw, Rock and Jericho successfully defended the WWF Tag team titles against then-Alliance members, Booker T and Test but a few days later on SmackDown!, they dropped the titles to Booker T and Test after Jericho inadvertently Missile dropkicked The Rock, enabling Test to nail Rock with the big boot for the victory. After the match, The Rock and Jericho stared each other down, which ended with Rock nailing Jericho with two Rock Bottoms. Later on that episode, Rock challenged Jericho for the WCW Championship in a No Mercy rematch. On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to win the title back with a surprise roll up, beginning his second WCW Championship reign. Irate at having lost the title, Jericho savagely attacked Rock after the match and hit him with a steel chair and the championship. Jericho was made part of Team WWF for the Winner Take All match at Survivor Series, promising that he would set aside his differences with Rock for the good of the company. However, Jericho attacked The Rock following his elimination from the match and nearly cost Team WWF the victory. The feud resumed after Jericho attacked Rock on Raw the next night and escalated leading up to Vengeance. Aftermath Stone Cold Steve Austin lost in a rematch against Chris Jericho for the Undisputed WWF Championship on the December 10 episode of Raw due to interference from Booker T. Austin then briefly feuded with Booker T, which involved the famous supermarket brawl and the returning Big Bossman Jericho successfully defended his title against different opponents until The Rock earned a match for the Undisputed Championship at the Royal Rumble on the January 3 episode of SmackDown! The feud between Edge and William Regal continued. Regal ambushed Edge several times with brass knuckles before finally challenging Edge to a rematch for the WWF Intercontinental Championship at the Royal Rumble, which Edge accepted. On the January 7 episode of Raw, buildup towards the Royal Rumble match started, with Austin, the returning Triple H, Kurt Angle, Kane, The Big Show and The Undertaker all declaring their participation in the match, and starting a feud. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Vengeance Category:Vengeance Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2001 Pay-Per-View Events